>> 27 May 2004

The Friday Essay

UNFINISHED BUSINESS.

Why is it so many Europeans passionately believe that it is morally and politically unacceptable for Israel to defend itself against the murderous onslaught orchestrated by Nobel Peace Laureate and beneficiary of Euro millions - Yasser Arafat?

In defence of their belief that Israel is always wrong Europeans march through the streets of their cities, they organise benefits to help Palestinian killers, they rush to all available media channels to decry IDF military activity. It’s a full time job being full time against Israel!

Could it be that there are those amongst the European nations that presided over the Holocaust who feel that there is unfinished business? How else to explain the hysterical European reaction in recent days to the Israeli military operation in Rafah?

Reporting on the Israeli mission, the leftist BBC was quick to directly echo Arafat’s propaganda line that this was another appalling “massacre.” Breathless journalists lined up to earnestly report that dozens of innocent Palestinians had been cruelly killed by the over-the-top Israeli military action. Even poor children had been deliberately mowed down by the barbarity of the IDF approach.

Now whilst appreciating that this fantasy journalism is brought to us from the same people who brought us the Jenin “Massacre” (that turned out not to be a massacre) it is still a sobering thought that they are so many in media circles who are so quick to judge Israel and find it guilty.

In all the extensive reporting on Rafah there is one word that you will never hear or read in the European media; that word is “terrorist.” Instead every form of euphemistic evasion is employed; “activists”, “militants” “fighters” – the thesaurus is thumbed through to find ways of getting past the T-word. This is because Europe has become a land in which moral equivocation has been turned into an art-form. What else can explain the French awarding Michael Moore the Palm D’or!

The blurring of right and wrong has become the mark of the Euro-journalist. In this way, the actions of those Palestinian barbarians that slaughtered a mother and her four daughters can be compared to the actions of the IDF when it kills Hamas terrorists. It’s disgusting, it’s unacceptable, but that’s how Europe is these days.

Possibly even more repugnant than the morally bankrupt Euro-media is the grotesque lies emanating from Amnesty International. The ranting of this poisonous organisation is treated by Europeans as if it is Holy writ. Their spokespeople get to grab prime time TV from which they lambaste Israel whilst making sickening apologies for Arafat and his crew.

The ever biased Amnesty International has condemned Israel's destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah as "war crimes". In a new report the self-proclaimed human rights group accuses Israel of destroying more than 3,000 Palestinian homes in the current three-and-a-half year Intifada. Tens of thousands have been left homeless as the demolition reaches "unprecedented levels", Amnesty says.

Amnesty has also demanded that Israel halts demolitions immediately. It says that Israel's "collective punishments have extended to buildings only tenuously linked to Palestinian armed attackers". House demolitions were linked to Israeli intentions to take over West Bank and Gaza land, it said. It described the practices as "grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention" and "war crimes".

Now anyone with any common sense will figure that Amnesty, like the European Union and the United Nations, has a simple agenda when it comes to Israel. It requires that Israel concedes the right to exist and quietly disappears into the Mediterranean. It’s much vaunted “humanitarian” agenda does not extend to the citizens of Israel.

So when a spokesman for the Israeli foreign ministry said Israel had to "take the necessary measures to protect the lives and security of its citizens" and said it was "in full compliance with international law" – this was ignored. Similarly when he added, “While there is no question that the Palestinian population is suffering from the ongoing conflict, that suffering is a direct result of Palestinian terrorism aimed at innocent Israelis, and the need for Israel to protect its citizens from these abhorrent attacks." – European fingers were firmly inserted into ears.

Sometimes we have to face unpleasant truths and one of these is that the European media elite harbour a desire to see the State of Israel wiped out. Whilst many of us see Israel as a beacon of democracy and liberty shining in the darkness of the Middle East, all many Europeans can see is unfinished business.